a few words to her brother before they pro- | her, and the surgeon drew near to do his Iceeded to their work. Her brother was im- painful work. He had uncovered her bosom mediately called to her, when, taking him by and taken off the dressing when Mr. Main, the hand, she requested him to sit down by her. casting his eyes at her breast, begged he "You have," said she, "been a father to me might have leave to examine it before they since I lost my own; I acknowledge your proceeded. The other surgeon, with some intenderness and your care of me with gratitude. dignation, said his doing so was only an unI believe your refusal of me to Mr. Main was necessary delay, and had already laid hold of from no other motive but your desire of see- his knife when Mr. Main, having looked at ing me matched to a richer man. I therefore it, said he was of opinion it might be saved freely forgive you that only act in which you without endangering the lady's life. The ever exercised the authority my father gave other, with a contemptuous smile, told him you over me. My life, I now apprehend, is in im- he was sorry he thought him so ignorant of minent danger, the hazard nearly equal whether his profession, and without much ceremony, I do or do not undergo the operation; but as putting him aside, was about to proceed to they tell me there is a chance in my favour on the operation, when Mr. Main, laying hold of one side, I am determined to submit to it. him, said that he never should do it in his presence, adding with some warmth that he would engage to make a perfect cure of it in a month without the pain or hazard of amputation.

"I put it off to this day on account of its being my birthday. I am now one-and-twenty, and as the consequence of what I have to go through may deprive me of the power of doing what I intended, I have spent this morning in making my will. You, brother, have an ample fortune; I have no poor relations; I hope, therefore, I shall stand justified to the world for having made Mr. Main my heir." Saying this she pulled a paper from under her gown, which she put into her brother's hand that he might read it. It was her will, wrote by herself, and regularly signed and witnessed by two servants of the family.

"Sir," said she, turning to the other surgeon, "I am ready for you as soon as my brother is withdrawn."

You may imagine this had various effects on the different persons concerned. The brother, however displeased he might have been at this act of his sister's, had too much humanity to make any animadversions on it at that time. He returned the paper to his sister without speaking, and retired.

Poor Main, who had stood at the back of her chair from his first coming in, had been endeavouring to suppress his tears all the time, but at this proof of his mistress's tenderness and generosity it was no longer in his power to do so, and they burst from him with the utmost violence of passion.

The other surgeon desired him to compose himself, for that they were losing time, and the lady would be too much ruffled.

The heroic young woman, with a smiling countenance, begged of him to dry his eyes. "Perhaps," said she, "I may recover." Then fixing herself firmly in the chair, she pronounced with much composure, "I am ready." Two maid-servants stood, one on each side of

The young lady, who had been an eye-witness of what passed, for she would not suffer her face to be covered, now thought it proper to interpose. She told the unfeeling operator that he might be sure she would embrace any distant hope of saving herself from the pain, the danger, and the loss she must sustain if he pursued the method he intended. She was not, however, so irresolute, she said, as to desire either to avoid or postpone the operation if it should be found necessary; but as there was hope given her of a cure without it, she thought it but reasonable to make the experiment, and should, therefore, refer the decision of her case to a third person of skill in the profession, by whose opinion she would be determined.

The two women-servants, who are always professed enemies to chirurgical operations, readily joined in her sentiments, and saying it was a mortal sin to cut and hack any Christian, they made haste to cover up their young lady again.

The disappointed surgeon hardly forbore rude language to the women, and telling Mr. Main he would make him know what it was to traduce the skill of a practitioner of his standing, marched off in a violent passion, saying to his patient, if she had a mind to kill herself, it was nothing to him.

The modest young man, delighted to find the case of his beloved not so desperate as he had supposed it to be, begged she would permit him to apply some proper dressings to the afflicted part, and conjuring her to call in the aid of the ablest surgeon that could be procured, took his leave.

The brother of the lady being apprised of | ing it for the future; he agreed with him entirely with regard to the propriety of it, and having assured the friends of the girl that he thought him a skilful and ingenious young man, took his leave, being obliged to return directly home.

The testimony of this gentleman, whose skill was undoubted and whose impartiality must be so too, having never seen any of the

what had passed, lost no time in sending an express to Bath, and by a very handsome gratuity induced a surgeon of great eminence to set out immediately for his house, who arrived early the next morning. But in the meantime poor Main had like to have paid dear for his superior skill in his profession. The other surgeon had no sooner got home than he sent him a challenge to meet him that even-parties concerned in his life before, wrought ing, in a field at some distance from the town. They met: Main had the good fortune after wounding to disarm his antagonist, but first received himself a dangerous wound.

so much on the brother of the lady that he did not hesitate to put his sister under the care of her lover.

Poor Main, though scarce able to leave his bed for some time, was nevertheless carried to his patient every day, at the hazard of his life. His skill, his tenderness, and his assiduity, were all exerted in a particular manner on the present occasion, and in less than five weeks he had the pleasure to see his mistress restored to perfect health.

This accident was kept from the knowledge of his mistress; but on the arrival of the surgeon from Bath, as he would not take off the dressings but in the presence of the person who put them on, it was thought proper that both Mr. Main and the other man should be sent for. The latter was not by any means in a condition to attend, but the former, though very ill and feverish, desired that he might be carried to the house. The Bath surgeon having in his and the brother's presence examined the case, declared it as his opinion that the complaint might be removed without amputation, adding that it was owing to wrong management that the grievance had gone so far. He consulted with Main in the presence of the family as to his intended method of treat- | pair united in marriage.

The consequence of this incident was very happy for them both. The brother, exceedingly pleased at his whole behaviour, told him he was an honest generous fellow, and since he was convinced it was his sister's person and not her fortune he was attached to, he would with all his heart bestow both on him; and accordingly Mr. Arnold and I had this day the satisfaction of seeing this worthy young

OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

BORN 1728- DIED 1774.

[Oliver Goldsmith—the poet, dramatist, his- | farm of about seventy acres was rented, which torian, essayist, and novelist, who has left us afterwards brought in about forty pounds a models of style in everything he attempted-year. the author who above all others creeps into the hearts of his readers as a friend-was born on the 10th of November, 1728, at Pallas or Pallasmore, in the county of Longford. His father, with the amiable improvidence which seems to have belonged to the family, married very young, and, as Irving puts it, "starved along for several years on a small country curacy and the assistance of his wife's friends." Two years after Oliver's birth, however, a change for the better occurred. The uncle of Mrs. Goldsmith dying, her husband succeeded to the rectory of Kilkenny West, and the family removed to Lissoy, in the county of Westmeath. There also a

In Lissoy Goldsmith's youth was passed, and from it he drew most of his pictures of rural and domestic life. There can scarcely be a doubt it also furnished the original of "Auburn" in The Deserted Village. At six years of age he became pupil to the village schoolmaster, Thomas Byrne, an old veteran who had fought in the Spanish wars, and one likely to prove a capital tutor for a poet. From him Goldsmith acquired an extensive knowledge of fairy lore, fable, romance, and adventure, and by him was encouraged in scribbling verses, which he had generally the good sense to commit to flames. Some of them, however, reached Oliver's mother, who,